Remember Me
by walton-powell
Summary: Elena Gilbert hasn't had the best couple of years getting pregnant at 18 and then finding herself in an abusive relationship. But when she wakes up one morning to find a gorgeous TV star next to her telling her that he is her husband, and has been for the last 3 years, she is left to wonder what has happened to her? Delena AU/AH
1. Chapter 1

"Let's get this party started!" yelled Caroline

"Easy Car, Let's get checked into the hotel and get ready first." I explained with a slight giggle.

We had arrived in the wonderful City of Angels and everyone was buzzing to get the party started. It was my best friend Caroline's bachelorette party and we had travelled from our home in Mystic Falls to LA to give her the send off she deserved. Ever since we were 5 years old it had been Caroline, Bonnie and I against the world, and they had both been there for me in the worst time of my life.

When I decided to call off my wedding two years ago they stood by me absolutely. They had known that the relationship was abusive without me even telling them and everyone in town knew he was an alcoholic. I had been with him for three years and he was always a bit heavy on the drink even when we first got together but I was 16 and going through my "bad boy phase" as Caroline puts it. He was three years older than me, and that just added to the attraction. But as soon as he turned 21 everything changed. It was like it was suddenly his duty to drink as much as he could, which I get everyone goes through to a certain extent when they turn 21 but he took it too far. He was constantly drunk and the days he wasn't, he was severely hung over.

I finally caught up with what everyone had been telling me for months and decided to leave, and then I got the news. Possibly the worst timed news in the world but I can never say it was the worst news.

I was pregnant.

18 years old, with someone that I didn't want to be with and I was pregnant, and suddenly I was the most scared I had been in my life, I didn't know what to do. There were three options, 1. Have it "taken care of" which was swiftly taken off the table because I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror without being sick. I am completely pro-choice but I just personally wouldn't be able to do it. 2. Have the baby on my own, which scared the living shit out of me or option 3. Stay with him and try to work on our issues together, which I didn't really want to do but I'm not just thinking about myself now. So it was between 2 and 3 so whichever I chose I was going to have this baby and he deserved to know.

"Babe can you come here for a sec. We need to talk." I shouted to him.

He came into the living room and slumped onto the couch. I was slightly relieved that I got him on a hangover day and not a drunk day. At least he would remember what I had said.

"What's up Hun you sound nervous?" he asked

"I have some news...I'm ... Pregnant." That's it I had said it. It's out there and now his reaction will help me decide which option I take. But he was just sitting there looking at me with his mouth open. This was not making it any easier.

"Nik?... Say something!"

"Oh my god" He whispered and a smile creped onto his face "That's amazing news are you telling me I'm going to be a dad?" he said slightly louder.

"Well that's up to you" I said still as serious as before. But now his smile was being replaced by a frown.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he barked

"Well we have to address the fact that your drinking has been spiralling Nik and I have to admit it has started to scare me. Now I am going to have this baby, that's not going to change. However you have to decide whether you are going to be there with me or whether I am going to do it on my own! I can't go on like things have been lately Nik; you have to cut down on your drinking. I'm not saying you have to stop cold turkey but you have 7 months to at least cut it down to weekends!" I explained everything as calmly as possible.

"What do you mean? My drinking has been fine it's no different to how it's always been!" he was visibly confused.

"Really? Have you really not noticed that you have been pretty much constantly drunk for the past 6 months?" I asked completely baffled.

"It hasn't been that bad!" he said with a slight giggle hiding behind his words. When he looked at me and saw how agitated I was getting he quickly added "But if it has been bothering you that much then I can stop. Don't worry yourself to much sweetie you have my baby in there to look after" he said pointing to my stomach "and I _am _going to be there for you and the baby. I love you and I have said to you many times that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Ok if you think you can do it... That's all I wanted to hear. I'm going to call Bonnie and Caroline" I said giving him a quick smile and kiss before jumping up to grab the phone.

Later in the Mystic Grill the local bar we met up with Bonnie, Caroline and Caroline's new boyfriend Stefan. It was busy because it was a Saturday night but everyone decided that this couldn't wait we needed to celebrate.

"A toast. To Elena and Nik, now I know I haven't known you very long but this is such a joyful occasion and I am completely honoured to be a part of it. A baby is a blessing congratulations. To Elena and Nik!" Stefan toasted and everyone repeated.

"Now we need drinks so Nik do you wanna give me a hand at the bar?" asked Stefan as he got up to head to the bar and Nik followed.

"I like him!" I whispered to Caroline as they left ear shot. "I mean like_ seriously_ a keeper"

"Yeah I know" she beamed at me. But suddenly her face went from happily in love to her we-have-serious-talking-to-do face. I could always admire how she could switch between emotions so quickly when needed. "But are you sure you know what you're doing? I mean last time we spoke you were breaking-up with him and now suddenly you are having a baby? What's going on Elena?"

I rolled my eyes and looked at Bonnie "It does all seem a bit weird if you ask me." She said

"Well I was going to break-up with him but then I found out about this. It wasn't like 'hmm I could break-up with you or I could have your baby?' it all happened at the same time it must have when I was getting over the flu last month, the pill didn't work." I sighed deciding not to tell them the only reason I was even sleeping with him lately was so that he would get tired and pass out at a reasonable time. "I told him that I'm going to have this baby with or without him but I raise a baby in the environment that it's been in the apartment lately. He says he is going to change for me and the baby"

"And you believe him? Elena he has a drink problem it's not like him saying 'I'm gonna give up pancakes' it is an addiction and with you being pregnant as well ... we're just worried about you that's all" she said placing her hand on mine, the gesture was warming.

"Yeah I mean I know I don't want anything to happen to my little niece in there" Said Bonnie placing her hand over my stomach, and now I had tears in my eyes.

"How do you even know it's a girl?" I laughed blinking the tears away.

"Oh didn't you know ... I'm psychic" She explained we all laughed.

"Yeah sure you are" Caroline said giggling. After that we were went to a much lighter topic of finding out the juice on Stefan.

"Ok ok" she laughed "he has a small family just him and his older brother, his mom and dad. His parents came here from Italy like 25 years ago and they live in New York because his dad is some big shot lawyer and he was sent here to live with his uncle for his senior year because his mom thought it would be good for him to have quiet surroundings for his finals. His brother is some sort of actor or dancer or something like that"

"What are we talking about girls?" Nik asked as him and Stefan came back with the drinks.

We all looked at each other awkwardly for a second before Caroline quickly announced "We were just saying how if you hurt our girl over here me and Bonnie will have your balls for lunch" She fluttered her eyelashes which somehow made it slightly scarier.

We finished the night at around 11 and headed home, and everything was good for about 3 months we even got engaged and set the date, I couldn't have been happier. But then it all went downhill. Nik didn't stop drinking like he said he would he just started hiding it from me. I let it go for a while but then whenever I did bring it up he would start yelling and throwing things at the wall. It escalated more and more over the coming months until one day when I was 8 1/2 months pregnant when he finally struck me.

"Get away from me" I screamed at him as he came and stood over me.

"You see what you did! I didn't want to do that but you just wouldn't let it go" He whispered with tears in his eyes, bending down to see if it had made a mark.

"I said. Get. The. Fuck. Away. From. Me" I slowly got to me feet and headed to the door. I wasn't going to stick around for this. I wasn't this girl. How had I let my life become this? All I did was fight with him and dodge on coming plates and glasses.

"Where are you going?" he yelled at me. "Elena get your ass back in the apartment now!"

"No Nik I told you to get your life sorted and you didn't so that's it." I calmly explained "I don't want my child to be around this and you just crossed the line and there is no coming back from that Nik. The wedding is off. We're done. If you want to see this child you need to get your life sorted and get a lawyer because I am not going to just take your word for it and let you just take my child on your own. It's not going to happen" After that I ran as fast as I could until I ended up at Bonnie's grams' house. I knocked on the door praying to god that it was Bonnie at not her grams that answered. And then after what seemed like forever the door opened.

"Elena what are you doing here?" She asked and then her eyes drifted over my face and then settled on my slightly swollen and bleeding lip. "Oh my god!" She dragged me into the house and as soon as the door closed I felt like I could finally let it all go and I burst out into tears. She sat me down on the sofa and pulled me in to a hug and I sobbed on her shoulder.

Then after what seemed like seconds and hours all at the same time there was another knock on the door and I started to panic.

"Elena honey calm down I texted Caroline... It's just Care" she quickly said as she went towards the door.

She opened the door and didn't even get to say "hey" before Caroline burst through the door. "Where is she?" Bonnie pointed over to me and Caroline ran over and pulled me into a bone crushing hug.

"Caroline? ... Baby!" I grumbled before she let go.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry is she ok?" she asked apologetically. I nodded and looked down at my protruding stomach. "Right ok now tell me everything Elena what the hell happened?"

"Would you believe me if I said I walked into a door" I asked sheepishly, I looked over to Bonnie and I don't think I had ever seen her look so furious. I looked back at Caroline her eyes had widened so wide I could see white all the way around the colour of her eyes.

"I'm gonna kill him" she said as she stood up and ran out the door, Bonnie following suit. I ran after knew what happened, and in all honesty I would do exactly the same if this had happened to either of them.

My apartment was only down the road from Bonnie's so with them both being ex cheerleaders and ... not 8 1/2 months pregnant, by the time I caught up with them to tell them not to do this, they were already knocking on my door.

"Nik open this door now!" Bonnie screamed through the door.

"Nik I swear to god I'm going to kick the door down if you don't open it now" Caroline shouted.

"Girls what can I do for.!.." he was cut off with a punch in the nose from Bonnie and a kick in the crotch from Caroline simultaneously.

"You son of a bitch. You stay the hell away from her. You are a danger to her and her child and I'm pretty sure there is not a judge on earth that will allow you anywhere near that baby" Caroline said relatively calmly. I felt a tinge of pride watching my friends defend me to Nik. But then I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my abdomen and ... something else.

"Guys?" I asked trying to be heard over their shouts. "GUYS!" When they looked over at me I told them "My water just broke"

"I can't believe that Rosalie is nearly 2!? Where did all that time go?" Bonnie said while we were unpacking our stuff in our room.

"I know sometimes I can't believe that I was able to make something so perfect." I said hanging up my costume for the following night "But I guess Care is thankful for my timing because now she is the perfect age to be flower girl." They laughed as Caroline entered the room.

"As if I would have anyone else as my flower girl!" Caroline smirked "Elena we were there when she was born and we have all been living together for the past 2 years. We are practically her parents too"

"Right as you guys are both here I'm going to say this now instead of making some lame drunken speech at 3 am. I am so grateful for both of you. I really don't know where I would be if it weren't for you. There are not many 18 year olds who would agree to get a house with their friend and her baby but you guys did and if it wasn't for that I don't think I would be able to give Rosalie the life she has. I mean you guys made it possible for me to go to college which was a dream I gave up on after I found out I was pregnant. So I would just like to say thank you both from the bottom of my heart." I said tearing up and gave them both a hug "And now let's get these T-shirts on give Caroline the send off she deserves and go get wasted in LA." I laughed.

"Hey what do mean send off I'm not going anywhere. We are just moving down the road" Caroline stated looking almost offended.

Bonnie and I both laughed "Shut up Care you know what I mean"

The rest of the night was as eventful as expected from a bachelorette party, Caroline was in a stunning white dress that would have been a perfect dress if she were having a beach wedding and bright pink sash saying 'Bride' with a princess tiara and veil, The veil seemed to procure more and more condoms with every trip to the bathroom. All the girls were wearing black leggings with a bright pink tutu's and black T-shirts with pink writing saying 'Caroline's girls' across the top on the front and a nickname of Caroline's choice along the back. Bonnie and I had sashes saying 'Bridesmaid'. There was Caroline, myself, Bonnie, Caroline's mom Liz, my aunt Jenna. Stefan's mom Lucia was supposed to be there as well but pulled out at the last minute because of health problems.

By 11 we were all wasted and in the best karaoke bar in LA, singing along to "I'm coming out". We stumbled out of the club around 2 and I in the stupidly high heels fell onto the road catching my head on the curb.

"Oh my god Elena are you ok?" Caroline giggled

"Yeah I'm fine just a little sore" I said rubbing my head, glancing over Caroline's shoulder eyes wide as I notice someone. "Oh my god! I knew we chose LA for a reason look over there!"

Everyone turned to look at the raven haired man just entering the club across the street.

"Oh my god is that...?"

"Damon Valenti!" I cut Jenna off we were all in shock. One of the biggest names in television was just there 10 feet away from us "We are getting into that club!"

The next morning I started to wake up feeling a little groggy, nowhere near as bad as I possibly should but I wasn't complaining about that. I open my eyes just a sliver and see that the sun was rising. I couldn't remember much after getting into the club after karaoke last night but there was nothing new about that I found that since having Rosalie, good nights out are few and far between because of a combination of lack of money or lack of babysitter, so when I did manage to get out I made sure it was worth it.

I opened my eyes a bit more and realised that I didn't recognise the room I was in, it defiantly wasn't my hotel room and then I felt it someone's arm wrapped around my waist. Well last night obviously went a lot better than I thought but now I have to have the awkward conversation with this man that I don't remember who the hell he is.

"Morning baby" he said I turned around to look at him and couldn't believe my eyes.

"Damon Valenti?" I gasped in shock he looked confused

"Elena Salvatore? What's with the full name baby?" he asked and now I feel guilty I slept with Damon Valenti and I couldn't even give him my real name? Hell I slept with Damon Valenti and I couldn't remember... Oh god I wish I could remember that

"Oh god is that what I told you my name was?" I asked "I'm so sorry I was really drunk last night I can't remember a thing after 2. You see it was my best friend's bachelorette party and I don't get out that often because I have a 2 year old little girl at home and..."

"Elena what's going on you weren't at any bachelorette party last night" He asked and starting to look worried? Why was this guy worried?

"Um ... Yeah I was I'm technically still on it we are on a weekend party here in LA." I explained "It's my friend Caroline's party. Are you ok you look kinda off?"

"Elena who am I?" He enquired. Ok this guy was starting to piss me off does he really need his ego massaged this badly?

"You're Damon Valenti!" I replied rather nonchalant but the look in his eye was messing with my head.

"No ... What's my real name? Who am I to you?" He asked. I am getting more and more confused with each moment with this guy. This must be why people warn you off sleeping with celebrities.

"I don't know" I whined "Why don't you just tell me what you want to hear?" and then I looked at him and for a moment I thought he was going to cry...

"My real name is Damon Salvatore. I am Stefan's brother and I am your husband"

"What?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Ok so idiot that I am. I have only just realised how to do the authors note. So I'll start by saying that this is my first attempt at writing... anything really, it's just an idea that popped into my head in the middle of the night and I just had to write it down.**

**Now I have to thank you so much for reviewing. I'll be honest I didn't even really think that many people would read it let alone actually like it but publishing it was something that I had to do and I'm grateful that it is being received.**

**None of it is a dream it is all real she has just lost 4 years of her life and I don't know yet whether there will be a reason for it. (Groundhog Day didn't have a reason) I am not claiming that any of this is even medically possible it is just a random idea I had in the middle of the night. Enjoy.**

**I also want to say that the entire section about Nik/Klaus is based on a real life experience for me. That did actually happen it was only slightly dramatised and I made it so Elena wasn't anywhere near as stupid as I was and got out after the first hit. If you find that particular part of the story hits home at all and want to talk about it please don't hesitate to PM me, I really don't mind.**

**Oh and obviously I don't own any of the characters the only original character is Rosalie (she is not based on the twilight character she actually is my daughter)**

"What!?" I asked no louder than a whisper. This must be some sort of joke, what he is saying couldn't be real.

"I am your husband Elena we have been married for nearly 3 years" He tried to explain but now I was in full blown panic mode.

"No ... No non no. This isn't real... This can't be real." I almost shouted getting out of the bed and grateful that I seemed to have pyjamas on as I did. Running out of the room I stopped as I saw I was in a beautiful house. My head feels groggy and I have no idea where I am, so I run over to the nearest window and pull open the curtains. I was definitely not in LA anymore. I turn around as I see Damon running out after me "Where am I?" I shouted at him. I needed answers this can't be real this doesn't happen to people.

"You're at your house. In New York... We live here together" He said. New York? What was I doing in New York?

"No I live in Mystic Falls!" I said to him and then something horrible hit me "Where is my daughter?"

"She's upstairs in her room." He said to me and I started running around the house shouting for her. I didn't know my way around this house but I needed to see my daughter and I couldn't think about asking him where it was, I just needed to see my daughter now! "I don't know if it's a good idea for you to see her right now Elena." I stopped in my tracks and turned around to look at him. I don't think I have ever been so angry and scared all at the same time.

"You don't think it's a good idea for me to see her?" I asked raising my eyebrows "Who the hell are you to tell me I can't see my daughter?"

"Mommy? What's going on it's so early" a little said from behind me I turned to look at the person that the voice came from and saw a little girl no younger than 6 rubbing her big brown eyes looking up at me and dark blonde hair coming down to her shoulders. She looked so strange yet I recognised her straight away because she looked exactly the same as me at 6.

"Oh my god!" I gasped staggering to the wall and sliding down it with my head in my hands. It was only then that I noticed the band of metal around my left ring finger. I started crying as Damon ran over to Rosalie

"Baby go into your room mommy isn't feeling very well" he said to her, I couldn't help but notice the love in his voice as he said it and it just made me cry even more. He came over to me and wrapped his arm around me and pulled me in to a hug kissing the top of my head as he did.

"What's happened to me?" I asked sobbing into his shoulder.

I sat on the couch in the parlour with some a cup of tea and a blanket wrapped around me. I hadn't cried this much since Nik and I couldn't get any words out of my mouth for an hour. I was just calming down looking into the fire watching the flames lap upwards. Damon was just sitting with me. He had called the nanny; apparently we had a nanny, to take Rosalie to school so that he could comfort me in whatever way possible.

"You really love her don't you?" I finally was able to get words out of my mouth, but the words came out quiet and hoarse from all the crying. I was still looking at the flames, they were keeping me calm, and I thought if I looked him in the eye I would break down again.

"Of course I do" He said looking at me almost in shock that I had finally spoken. The way he said it brought tears back to my eyes. I looked up and blinked them away trying not to think about the fact that I had missed 4 years of my little girl's life.

"Ok tell me everything you know" I said to him looking over to him and shuffling so that my body was facing him. "How did we meet?" His eyebrows burrowed as he was thinking of how to answer.

"Well I first saw you in LA. It was Caroline's bachelorette party I didn't know it at the time because I hadn't met Caroline yet. I was going into a club and I just heard this sound of giggling girls and looked over to see you fall over your heels and thought that you looked so graceful even falling over drunk." He explained

"That's the last thing I remember." I sighed thinking that must have seemed like a life time ago to him but to me that was last night.

"Well that must be good that you have such a clear last memory" He said smiling and then he continued on with the story of how we met? "We actually met at the rehearsal dinner; I couldn't be there for the engagement party because I couldn't get the time off work so that was the first time I had met Caroline as well. But I somehow recognised you straight away. I mean it had only been a couple of weeks since we were in LA but I literally only saw you for a moment and it just stuck. Obviously we were formally introduced because my father doesn't do anything informally we got talking. I was the best man and you were the maid of honour so we spent a lot of time together at the rehearsal dinner and at the wedding and I just knew that I wanted to get to know you more so I asked you to dinner, and you said yes. We have pretty much been inseparable ever since." I watched his face as he told me the story watching his face with slight smiles and laughs at some parts of the story.

"It sounds nice I wish I could remember it." I said quietly.

"Well we were married a year later... Literally... we share the same anniversary weekend as Caroline and Stefan, your idea by the way not mine... Actually I think it might have been Caroline's idea and you just gave in to it" he smiled. He had a beautiful smile, not like the one on his show but his real smile was breath taking.

He reached over to the coffee table and grabbed a photo album "I brought these down from the spare room. I thought it might help. This one is Stefan and Caroline's wedding. It's probably best for you to start with that one" He laid out 3 more photo albums on the coffee table. "This one is our wedding album, then this one is a general photo album which will fill in any gaps between all the others, and this one ... Is from Rosalie's adoption party"

"Adoption party?" I asked a little bit confused

"Yeah I adopted her 6 months after we got married she is our daughter Elena and I love that girl I don't care if she's not biologically mine" he said gently holding my face in his hands so that I was looking into his magically blue eyes.

I could see that this guy was never going to hurt me and defiantly loved my daughter ... Our daughter. It gave me a warming feeling in my chest and I realised that I trusted this Adonis of a man in front of me.

"I've called work and told them that you're not going to be coming on today. So you don't have to worry about anything today you can just relax ok?" He told me obviously thought that it was a calming thing to say but I realised that I hadn't even thought about work.

"Work? Oh my god what do I do? How am I supposed to turn up to a job if I don't even know what it is or know anyone there?" I said in a sudden panic ... I seem to be having a lot of those lately.

"Elena stop panicking! Do you think I'm just going to let you walk into work unprepared? You're a Journalist in the wedding and events section at The New York Times." He said calming me down

"Wedding and events? But I don't know anything about events. I was there for Caroline planning her wedding but that's about it." I said. I had always dreamed of being a journalist in fact I was studying journalism at college. But weddings and events was something I knew nothing about I was wondering how I could have got the job in the first place.

"Well Caroline is the assistant to the number one event planner in the city. If you have an article to work on you usually spend time with her at work. You basically work together like partners, she helps you with your work, and you help her with hers. I swear one of these days Rebekah is just going to start paying you as well" He chuckled at this thought, this made me feel better because I get to work with Caroline While I get myself sorted.

"I think I need to lie down for a little while my head hurts. Do you mind?" I asked without even thinking.

"Of course not. Do you want to lie down in bed?" he asked with absolutely no hidden meaning behind it. He genuinely cared... I don't think I have ever had that before. But I had, I have had it for the past four years I just don't remember.

"I think I'll stay here. The fire is relaxing." I lay my head down on the arm of the couch and pulled my knees up to my chest. I just lay there looking into the fire for a few minutes before I drifted off to sleep.

"What do you mean she doesn't remember?" Caroline's voice ringing through the house woke me up. She could never keep her voice down even when she tried.

"SHHH... What do you think I mean!? She woke up this morning thinking that she had hooked up with someone the first night of your bachelorette weekend." He sighed "It wasn't until she saw Rosalie that she realised that it wasn't some sort of prank you pulled. ... You should have seen her face when she saw her I don't think I've ever seen her so broken." Damon's voice cracked as he said this.

"How did she even recognise Rosalie? That was 4 years ago... I mean Rosalie was still a baby really and she is 6 now. I probably wouldn't recognise her." Stefan said and suddenly I heard a clap followed by "OW what was that for?" I giggled silently.

"Of course you wouldn't you're not her mother." Caroline said exasperated "You also didn't know Elena when she was that age. I swear the only difference is the Rosalie got Nik's hair but that's it, it is like looking into a time machine looking at her."

"I called her work and told them what is going on and they said that she could have as much time as she needs." Damon said "But they asked if she could shadow you while she is getting to grips with everything so that she can learn it all from scratch in case her memories don't come back. I don't think they would have done it for anyone else but they know how talented she is." I felt relief when he said that. It means that I'll be spending most of my time with Caroline. It's not that I don't like Damon, like him a lot, but I don't know him. Caroline is my best friend, well apparently now we're sisters.

I decided that I should probably let them know that I had woken up so I started to make my way to the living room when I heard Damon saying something.

"I just don't know what to do Car. She doesn't know who I am, she doesn't know how much I love her, and in her head she hasn't fallen in love with me yet... What if she never does? I can't lose my family. I'm really scared." Hearing this nearly broke my heart. In a sense he was right I wasn't in love with him but only because I didn't know him. But I could see how much he loved me and I could see how much he loved Rosalie so that didn't mean I was never going to fall in love with him. In fact I could see myself falling for him very easily.

"Then you make sure she does. She's coming into this as a new participant. I know it might not be easy but there is only one way to deal with this." Caroline explained comforting him.

"And what would that be?" Damon asked

"You have to date your wife. You have to push the reset button and do exactly what you did the first time round to make her fall in love with you." Caroline said. "Now you know I am only saying this because it is an emergency because god know you don't need your ego inflated anymore than it already is but sweetie whatever it is that you did... 100% worked she was completely in love with you, she's the same person that she was when you met her Damon so it's bound to work. She smiled at him as I walked through the door.

"Elena! You're up." Stefan said cheerfully and everyone else's head snapped up to me. Stefan came over to me and giving me a quick one armed hug "How are you doing? You alright?"

"Yeah" I said and then I got the full on bone crushing hug from Caroline.

"Oh my god Elena! I can't believe it we are _so_ going to have to chat because apparently we have four years to catch up on" she said and we both laughed only she could make this whole situation into something that meant she could gossip about everything that had happened in the last four years.

I saw Damon getting up from the chair he was looking like he didn't know quite what to do. I could see it in his eyes, he wanted to comfort me, kiss me, and hold me in his arms. But he didn't know how I react. In some way I wanted him to hold me but I wasn't in the right place to ask and I knew he wouldn't do it without my say so.

"What do you want to do now?" he asked

"I think I want to go to the hospital. I want to know what happened to me and I want to know if I'm going to get any of my memories back." I said to them softly.

"Ok then" Damon said matter-of-factly "Let's go!"

**A/N Ok so this is quite a bit shorter than the last but I hope you enjoyed it **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I would like to apologise for this chapter taking so long to post I had a baby shower this weekend. **

"Ok Mrs Salvatore just relax and it will all be over in a moment" The doctor said with a sympathetic smile on his face "If you do feel like you are starting to panic then there is a button just on the end of this wire that you can push and it will let you out. We do discourage using it unless absolutely necessary because it means that we have to start the whole process again once you have calmed down."

I lay down on the machine listening to the doctor explain what the MRI is going to do and I couldn't help thinking that the machine looked like one of those status pods you see in those space movies. I was slightly shaking because truth be told... I was scared. What if it was something really bad?

"Ok then we are all set. Are you ready?" He asked. I nodded and tried to focus on looking confident, I was going to focus on anything else than what was going on. But I realised as the table started moving in towards the machine that that was going to be impossible this was absolutely terrifying. The table came to a halt and I looked at myself in the little mirror in front of me. It was the first time I had since I woke up this morning.

I was surprised to find that I actually looked pretty good. I had always been blessed with pretty good skin but life does take its toll especially when you have a two year old to run around after, as well as a full-time college course and a part-time job. I just didn't have time to do all of that and keep up with an even half decent skin and hair care routine. So my skin had become slightly dull looking and I almost constantly had dark circles under my eyes, and my hair was rather limp. But looking in this little mirror I noticed that the dark circles were gone and my skin looked positively glowing. My hair was longer, it came down to my waist instead of to my shoulders, and it also looked as shade or two darker then what I was used to. I mean it stands to reason that now that Rosalie is in school I would have a bit of extra time on my hands but my life still sounded pretty full on so how found the time to keep this all up I will never know. Before I knew it the MRI had finished. I came out of the machine and sat up.

"Ok then that's all done. What's going to happen now is we are going to take our time looking at these to make sure we see everything we need to. Now I do realise the seriousness of the situation and also how scared you are of what's happening so we are also going to send the pictures to the best neurologist in the country so we can figure this out as fast as possible for you ok?" He explained everything to me and I felt so relieved that he was taking it so seriously.

"Am I ever going to get my memories back?" His face dropped as I asked this which doesn't give me much hope I have to say.

"Unfortunately there is no way to tell. They may creep back in as time goes. Or they could never come back. I understand that doesn't sound very good but I'm afraid when comes to memory, there is still a lot we don't know. The best thing I can suggest is that your friends and family do stuff with you that they have done in the last 4 years and see if anything sinks in. Do things with your husband that you remember and then ask him to do things that you don't." He told me with a smile

"I met my husband about 2 weeks after my last memory." I said dryly. His eyes widened in surprise

"Oh... Well that's ... awkward." He gave a slight chuckle as I nodded my head.

"And my daughter is 6 now so I can't do the things with her that I did then because she is too old for a lot of them." I told him.

"Listen" He said sitting down on the table next to me "from what I have seen of your husband so far, he loves you. And your daughter certainly does. Now all you have to do is get to know them and I'm sure those feelings will follow. Obviously you love your daughter but she is not the baby you remember. And your husband? You fell for him once and I'm pretty sure he is going to do all he can to get you to fall for him again, you just have to trust your heart and not your head" He said and I knew that what he was saying made sense. "Now are you ready to leave? It shouldn't take more than a few weeks to get the results"

"Yes I'm ready. Thank you doctor." I said to him as he ushered me out the door.

Damon was sitting down on a chair outside the MRI room with his head in his hands. He looks so worried and I feel a tinge of guilt that he looks that was over me.

"Hey" I said softly to get his attention.

"Hey how are you?" he got up and came over to me wrapping his arm around me. I hugged him back and noticed how good it felt.

"I'm ok. They are going to send the scans away to be looked at by a specialist and we will know what's going on in a few weeks" I said with a slight smile, trying to make him feel better.

In the car on the way home I was looking out the window admiring the sights of New York, I couldn't believe I lived in New York. This was always the dream, go to college become a journalist and move to New York. I got my dream and I just wish I could feel like I deserved it, I know that I had probably worked my ass off to get here but I don't remember.

"What happened in college?" I asked Damon. It had been the first thing said since we got in the car.

"You finished top of your class. To this day I don't know how you did it; you had so much on and yet still got top marks. Nothing slipped; you were a wonderful mother good at your job and were getting top marks at school. When you graduated, you got into Columbia grad school of journalism; a year later you were offered an internship at the times. You did so well that they offered you a permanent position after the semester finished. They obviously didn't mind you carrying on with your studies, and Columbia agreed to take on some of your articles as extra credit." He explained.

"I got into Columbia?!" I was dumbfounded. I got into the best journalism program in the country and working at The New York Times?

"You are quite an amazing woman Elena" He smirked "And I want to prove it to you... Let me take you out to dinner tonight? Stefan and Caroline have already agreed to babysit for us, so you don't have to worry about Rosalie. But it is completely up to you. If you don't want to go that's fine too."

"No no no I want to! I really do ... Listen I need to confess something to you... Caroline woke me up earlier and I heard your conversation with them. I think Caroline is right Damon, I think we need to 'press the restart button'... well you do because my head seems to have done that for me." I laughed, properly laughed probably for the first time today "Can you just pretend that this is our first date?" I asked. He looked at me and smiled. He has the most amazing smile I have ever seen.

"Sweetie I am so glad you just said that because I'm actually taking you to where we had our first date" I looked in his eyes and he looked so sincere "I want us to be together Elena, because I love you, and if that means doing all of it all over again then I'm fine with that."

We pulled up to the house and got out of the car. Well he got out of the car and came round to let me out like a proper gentleman.

"Well then I said with a bit of a toothy grin "I guess I had better start getting ready. I have a date tonight you know?" I joked.

"Really?" He said in mock surprise "With whom might I ask"

"Oh just some guy. I don't see it going anywhere, he's not that hot" I giggled and his face turned from mocking shock to genuine amusement.

"Oh I am plenty hot. As you can see for yourself tonight" He winked at me. Well it's nice to see some modesty in him.

"Where are we going anyway? I need to know what to wear." I asked

"Oh no! You didn't know the first time you're not going to know this time." He said chuckling "Don't worry too much about what to wear. I'm sure whatever you pick will be perfect. I'll pick you up at 7."

"Wait pick me up? Are you not going to get ready?" I was slightly confused by his choice of words as we walked into the house.

"We haven't had our first date yet. So I came to the decision to move into the guest bedroom. I want us to have a normal relationship for you and we can't do that by living as man and wife when you don't remember getting married. I'm not moving out of the house because I think that would have a negative effect on Rosalie. By moving to the guest room I am doing what is best for both of you." He explained. He was going through so much just to respect what has happened to me, and the more time I spend with this man the more I respect him.

We split up to go to our separate rooms and my mind kept wandering to what was going to happen tonight and then I realised that I was genuinely excited about this date.

"Mommy!" I heard as I was opening the door, and I was taken by surprise when suddenly 45 pounds of energy and blonde hair jumped into my arms. I moved the masses of dark blonde hair out of my face to see Caroline sitting on the bed smiling at me.

"Hi baby. I thought you were going to Auntie Caroline's tonight?" I said looking at my beautiful daughter. She had grown into such a wonderful little girl. I still couldn't believe how much she looked like me as a child.

"We are going to make you look prettier for your date with daddy!" Rosalie stated looking at me.

"We are going to _help_ mommy look pretty Rosalie. We thought you could use it." Caroline said to me taking Rosalie off of me and placing her on the bed. "Now what you need to do is go through your closet and see what outfits you think you would look smoking in. And then I will filter through your choices. Rosalie will filter though my choices while I do your hair and make-up. Now let's get into this closet"

Caroline opened the other door in my bedroom that I hadn't noticed before. When she stepped inside I was slightly confused and walked towards the door. When I got there and looked inside I could not believe my eyes, there was an entire other room, almost the same size as the bedroom, filled with clothes. One side of the room was almost completely empty and I was guessing that was where Damon kept his clothes. The other side was all meticulously organized; categorized by occasion, then garment, then colour. At the end of the room the wall was replaced by a light wall and shelving and it was filled with shoes, there were so many and they were so beautiful. I had always been a shoe lover but could never justify myself buying the ones that I really wanted when we were struggling to put food on the table.

"Oh my god! Is all of this mine?" I asked Caroline.

"Well they aren't going to be mine are they?" She said sarcastically "Now get looking we only have 4 hours to cipher through all this." It took me an hour to go through all of the beautiful clothes and I couldn't believe they were mine. They were mostly designer clothes but there were some high street names in there too which gave me hope that I hadn't become an all out high class snob. There were evening dresses, cocktail dresses, ball gowns, shift dresses, suits... etc. I got a bit overwhelmed by it all but in the end had around 15 outfits that I thought fit the situation, what 2009 me would call "date clothes".

After I told Caroline that I was done she told me to go take a shower while she went though the clothes. Rosalie came with me which I was relieved about because I still had no idea how to get around this place, it is ridiculously big.

"Baby come here a sec I need to talk to you." I said to Rosalie kneeling down to her level when we got to the bathroom. "I'm sorry if I scared you this morning. Has anyone said anything to you about what is going on?" I didn't know how to approach the subject but I had to have this convocation with her, she's my daughter and even if she is only young, she needs to know what is happening.

"This morning daddy said you were not feeling very well, and then before school he said you had am...as... anesmia" she said and I almost laughed. She did pretty well I don't think I even knew what amnesia was till I was 13 let alone say it.

"Well yes sweetie, it's actually called amnesia. It means that there is something wrong with mommies' brain and I have been very silly and have completely forgotten everything that has happened in the last 4 years." I tried to explain it so that she wouldn't get scared I didn't want her to think it was something really serious when it might not be.

"Mommy" she rolled her eyes at me... did that really just happen? My little girl rolled her eyes at me "How ever did you manage to forget _everything_?" she said

"We don't know yet baby but I went to the doctors today and the very nice man there ran a few tests and we should know soon ok? I just wanted you to know what was happening so you don't get confused if I don't remember something that you are telling me. But you know that I love you right?" I said to her. She was a smart girl, I could tell.

"Well I will just have to remind you then won't I?" she said with a gleam in her eye. "But first you need to get in to the shower because otherwise aunt Carline will start getting mad" she sang at me and I laughed.

"Ok let's do this then you go tell Aunt Caroline that I'll be 15 minutes ok?" She nodded and skipped down the hall. I got into the bathroom and locked the door and about half a minute later I heard...

"AUNT CAROLINE, MOMMIES GOING TO BE 15 MINUTES" Oh my god that girl knows how to project. I laughed to myself and turned the shower on.

I got out of the shower 20 minutes later and made my way to the bedroom. I see Caroline has laid out 4 outfits and is conferring with Rosalie as to what one to pick.

"Hang on she's supposed to pick while you do my hair." I announced as I walked into the room. Caroline looks at me and rolls her eyes.

"Ok then. Come over here and let's see what we can do."

She sat me down at my dressing table and started pondering. In the end we went for a faux-bob braided up-do with relatively neutral make-up. Rosalie was looking in deep concentration with her finger on her chin when she suddenly through her arms up in the air with a strapless cream peplum dress with black lace detailing.

"That is perfect" exclaimed Caroline "it is just the right mix of sophistication and flirty"

We had 35 minutes left until Damon said he would 'pick me up', even if he was only down the hall, so Caroline decided to grab a bottle of wine and chat while I was putting on the dress.

"So where is Bonnie?" I asked I found it strange that I hadn't seen her at all today.

"Bonnie lives in Midtown east. It's not far from here but she's always really busy. She's studying to be a doctor at the NYU School of Medicine." She told me and I just couldn't believe it, Bonnie was going to be a doctor. "She wants to be an OB/GYN. I don't think she would have come to that decision if it wasn't for watching this one being born." She said while giving the 6 year old a noogie.

I was all ready and all I needed was shoes. I went into the closet again and then I saw them sitting on the far wall. 6 inch peep toe shoes with a ruffled front. They were perfect and I picked them up and instantly noticed the signature red sole of Christian Louboutins... I own Louboutins. Christian Louboutin has always been my all time favourite shoe designer but it had only ever been a case of fantasy, and here I am holding some in my hands, and I own them. I slip them on my feet and give out a small moan of pleasure. They feel so good on my feet. I then look in the mirror and examine myself.

I am ready.

**A/N: You can find Elena's outfit here: store/product/57817/cream-sleeveless-peplum-dress-with-black-lace-overlay. The shoes you can find here: . .**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hi guys I am so sorry that it has taken so long to post this chapter. I have spent ages trying to figure out what the perfect date would be and researching for a lot of other things to do with the story. Also it's not easy doing this and running after a screaming 2 year old as well lol. I have an idea as to why she has amnesia, but I want to know what you think. Why do you think she has amnesia? Also I love your reviews so thank you. I do want to know what you think so if there is anything that is bugging you about the story don't hesitate to let me know **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any TVD Characters.**

I walked down the stairs and was surprised not to see Damon anywhere, I thought it was girls who were supposed to take forever getting ready, so I went to the guest room to see if he was nearly ready but to my surprise there was no answer when I knocked. I slowly opened the door and poked my head around and my confusion grew when I saw that the room was empty.

"Damon?"

I was just about to leave the room when something on the bedside table caught my eye. I went over and picked up the frame, it was a picture of the two of us; it was obviously one that I had taken myself and it was at night, it must have been cold because we were both wearing puffy coats and we were pulling funny faces. I laughed out loud at the look on his face and also the fact that you could tell I was trying not to laugh. It said a lot about him that this is the picture that he chose to have by his side. He could have probably found a much more glamorous picture, defiantly one where I looked better, he was a television star there had to be events that he was obligated to attend and I'm sure I would have gone with him to at least a few of them. But he chose a picture where I had no make-up on and we were just messing about with the camera. When I thought about this, it made me smile. He didn't care that I didn't look my best, and yet it was the picture that he obviously wanted to wake up to because it was just us having fun and being ... just us.

"MOMMY WHERE ARE YOU?" I heard Rosalie shout up the stairs.

"Coming" I shouted back. I placed the frame back on the bedside table and left the room to join the girls.

"Do either of you know where Damon is? He's not in his room."

"Did he or did he not tell you that he was going to pick you up?" Caroline exasperated. I nodded not really understanding "Well how is he supposed to pick you up if you live in the same house?"

I was just starting to understand when the door bell went and Rosalie got up to get it before Caroline stopped her.

"Not you! Your mom has to answer the door."

"_You_ shouldn't be opening the door on your own anyway" I said pointing at her as I went towards the door.

"But it is only daddy!" she complained.

"You don't know that! It could be anyone so you just stay away from the door ok?" I said while opening the door.

"YOU ARE NO FUN!"

"Yeah well I'm your mother. I'm not supposed to be fun" I turned and said to her before I realised that I had said that with the door open. I looked at him slightly embarrassed. "Hi"

"Hi. You look beautiful" He told me and I blushed slightly before being shoved aside by Rosalie as she jumped into his arms. "And _you_. Your mother's right you shouldn't be opening the door by yourself!" He placed her down and she complained some more as she went to sit on the couch and turned on the TV.

"Well that is maybe not the best start to a date" I said

"Actually it is kind of perfect. Are you ready to go?

"Yeah ok. Rosalie are you going to give me a kiss or are still moping?" I asked and she jumped up and gave me a kiss goodbye and then gave Damon one too.

We got into his car and he started driving when something occurred to me.

"Did you get ready and leave so you could pick me up?"

"Of course not" He said shaking his head "When I left you this afternoon, I grabbed the stuff I needed and went to Stefan's to get ready."

"That is no less crazy" I laughed

"It is not crazy. It is respectful"

"But you left your own house to get ready at your brothers. That is a little insane" I said and he shook his head and started laughing with me.

"Give me one example where a couple were living together before their first date?"

"Alright good point but I didn't expect you to go through so much trouble. You could have got ready at the house. I would understand" I said still laughing, I could see that this could turn pretty serious and emotional really quickly and if I'm honest, I have had a really emotional day and I am fed up of crying. Yes what has happened is awful but it could be worse, I have managed to land myself a pretty decent life. "Ok so where are we going?" I said to him changing the subject.

"Well see for yourself." He said pulling into a quik park and parked the car. We walked towards the exit and he guided me towards a theatre. When I saw the theatre fully I stopped in my tracks mouth open in genuine shock.

"We're going to see Wicked?" I couldn't believe it; this had been my all time favourite musical since it first opened. I could never raise the money to come and see it but I knew all the songs and had watched bits on you tube, but I had never seen it live. I looked up at him, my eyes starting to well. "How did you know? ... I mean before. You said that you were taking me to where we went for our first date. How did you know then, that this would be perfect?"

"Your best friend had just married my brother. It wasn't hard to find out." He said as we walked towards the box office. Then his face changed as he looked over my shoulder and he looked at me very seriously "Listen I need you not to freak out ok, and just smile you don't have to say anything."

I was so confused by his words and turned to where he looked a second ago and suddenly couldn't see a thing from the masses of flashes in my face. What he said made sense now, paparazzi. Damon wrapped his arm around my waist and I put on a smile. I wasn't sure how to react but I tried to keep calm and look like I had done this for years.

"Damon what are you doing here this evening?" One of them said from behind his camera. It was all very bizarre because you couldn't see his face. I kept a smile on my face.

"Just having an evening out with my wife to watch her favourite show." He said nicely. Almost like he genuinely wanted to talk to them.

"Aw how nice. Elena what's the occasion? Or is it a celebration?"

"Um we had a babysitter and decided to take advantage of the situation." I lied, I didn't think they would take 'I woke up this morning and couldn't remember a damn thing so we have to start our relationship all over again' very lightly. Damon lowered his head and gave me a quick kiss to the side of my head.

"Sorry guys but if we don't get in we're going to miss the beginning of the show." He told them as he guided me into the theatre. "You did really good out there. I didn't know how you were going to react."

"Is it always like this?"

"No. We usually only have to deal with them at events, but every so often you get some just hanging around places like this hoping that they get a lucky break."

"Right ok, this is a lot to take in. Let's go and watch the show" I said to him I didn't want to admit that the thought of being pictured all the time kind of scared me. I wasn't going to let it spoil my night though.

We went to dinner after the show at a nice little Italian restaurant off of the main road. It wasn't like the restaurants you would expect someone of Damon's stature to be dining in, it wasn't presumptuous at all; it was all about the food, which was exceptional.

"That was amazing. When she went up in Defying Gravity I had goose bumps, it was absolutely breathtaking. And the ending, OH MY GOD what a shock."

"Yeah I have to admit the first time I saw it I was rather shocked. I'm glad you enjoyed it." He said with a smile. I sat back in my chair, still on a bit of a high from the show.

"I have to say this place surprised me." I told him

"What do you mean?"

"Well aren't you celebrities supposed to be dining in 5 star restaurants that serve tiny portions?" I teased

"Oh right I get it." He said smiling "Actually this place belongs to a friend of mine."

"Well your friend knows how to cook. this is amazing." I said taking another bite out of my carbonara "So Mr. Velenti, tell me about yourself. What made you want to become an actor?"

"Well unfortunately that doesn't have an interesting answer." He said "I just always have. Even my mother doesn't remember a pin point moment, she tells me that when I was little I watched everything and really enjoyed television, when I started to realise that mom and dad went out to work to make a living, mom was a teacher in a private school so she went to the school for work, dad was a lawyer so he went to the office. It didn't take long before I made the connection between that and these people on TV that is where they went to work and what they did. That was it, after that I was set, this is what I wanted to do. I studied drama at high school and then I got into AADA. I loved it there and I learned a lot. I got my first part while I was there, it was only a bit part in a low budget film but it was a stepping stone. Then after I graduated it was audition after audition, bit part after bit part. I was happy with the little parts because I was doing what I loved. I got the part of Rich Tilley in 2007 and haven't looked back since. I never expected to have this much success and I am grateful everyday for how lucky I was." Rich Tilley was Damon's character on the murder mystery shoe "Seattle Homicides" where he played the homicide detectives alcoholic brother who won't admit he has a problem, subsequently losing his family. He constantly gets into trouble becoming a hindrance to his sister. He is a secondary character but integral to the plot. I loved the show and made a mental note to catch up with what I have missed on the show.

"Is it difficult playing an alcoholic?" I asked

"It was in the first few years because I didn't have any firsthand experience with alcoholics. I had done my research for the character but firsthand is different."

"What changed?" he looked at me for a second knowingly before I twigged "Oh! I'm glad I could help."

"What you went through with Nik helped, of course it did, but it was my own experiences with him that really did the trick."

"What happened?"

"About 6 months after we got together he turned up at your house, I had the week off so I was in Mystic Falls visiting. He wanted to see Rosalie-"

"At the bachelorette party he hadn't seen her in 18 months!" I interrupted, getting angry at Nik. How dare he just turn up like that?

"And he still hadn't seen her, you told me later that before that day the last time he had seen her she was 6 months old. He was sober so you agreed to let him see her, but you weren't going to tell her that she had to hug him or be carried by him because she probably had no clue who he was and she wasn't good with strangers. You went to the play room to get Rosalie but when you came back, he lost it. He was screaming at you accusing you of all sorts and that the girl you had in your arms wasn't his daughter. His daughter was a baby. He still hadn't seen me at his point because I stayed in the sitting room, it wasn't my business to get involved and I didn't want to impose but when he started shouting at you I thought enough was enough so I went to where you were to try and calm the situation down, I got there just as he tried to launch himself at you while you were still holding Rosalie. Obviously I put myself in-between him and you and told him that he needed to get the fuck out. He wasn't all that thrilled that you had me with you, you could tell he recognised me but was confused as to why I was there and when I told him who I was to you... Let's just say he didn't take it well"

"Oh my god did he hit you? I asked and he nodded. I was so embarrassed, this guy was a guest in my home and he gets treated like that?

"Don't worry I hit him back like twice as hard and threw him out on his ass" he explained.

"Damon I am so sorry. You shouldn't have had to be in the middle of that."

"Don't be" he said with a smile "It was the next day I went out and bought your engagement ring."

"Really?" I said in disbelief

"Yeah. I realised that there was no way I was every going to let anybody hurt you like that again. I loved you and it was then when I realised that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I got Stefan to pretend he needed your help studying while I took Bonnie and Caroline ring shopping."

"That is really sweet. I don't think anyone has done anything like that for me before."

"Yeah well it took me another month to build up the courage to ask you. I got a phone call from Caroline everyday asking me why she hasn't had you at her house crying in excitement yet" We both laughed at this and I pictured him trying to ask me but bottling it at the last minute.

We spent the next hour telling each other random things. He didn't tell me much else about what I had forgotten so I really started to feel like a first date. He did slip up once when I was telling him a story about my Aunt Jenna and her ex Logan and he slipped up telling me that Jenna was now married to Damon's best friend. Jenna Saltzman. I liked it; it had a nice ring to it.

"So is it true that you used to date one of your co-stars?" I asked. It was a bit personal and you're not supposed to talk about the ex's on a date but we had already talked about Nik, besides it had been nagging me.

"Ha ha. Yeah Katherine. We both came to a mutual decision that we were better just as friends. That was about 4 months before we met. She is one of my best friends on set." He looked at me and ~I could see that I obviously hadn't hidden the pang of jealousy I felt very well. "You have nothing to worry about. I don't look at her that way anymore. You're the only one for me I promise." He explained. I looked into his eyes and truly believed him. I never thought I would trust a guy again after Nik but there was something about Damon. Then something occurred to me.

"Why did the paparazzi want to know if we were celebrating?" I asked. It seemed like an odd conclusion to come to.

"Because we have been married for 3 years." He said simply

"They want to know if I'm pregnant?"

"They have been waiting for us to announce a pregnancy ever since we got engaged, it all happened so quickly they just thought it was a shot gun wedding."

"Oh how nice!" I said sarcastically and Damon nodded in agreement.

"Sorry guys but we are closing." The waiter came and told us. I looked at my watch and couldn't believe it was nearly 2 am. Damon paid and we left the restaurant and headed home.

It didn't take us long to get back to the apartment, about 15 minutes, and there wasn't a single awkward silence. I was telling him about the time in high school when I fell from the top of the pyramid, in the middle of the routine, during the homecoming game, when we entered the building. When we arrived at the front door he turned and looked at me.

"I had a really nice night tonight Elena."

"Me too thank you. I can't believe I have finally seen Wicked!" I said smiling, I looked up at him "Tonight was absolutely perfect Damon, it was just what I needed to take my mind off of everything."

"I'm glad" He said. He opened the front door and then leaned down and kissed my forehead "Good night Elena." Then he turned and started to walk towards the elevator.

"Wait goodnight? Where are you going?" I said, the confusion clear in my eyes.

"Stefan's"

"Oh for fuck sake!" I walked over to him grabbed his hand and dragged him into the apartment. "Don't be ridiculous! You are not going back out at 2.30 in the morning, _on your own, _to sleep at your brothers when you have a perfectly good bed waiting for you in there."

"Elena it's fine. Really I don't mind." He chuckled

"NO DAMON IT'S NOT HAPPENING! This is _your_ house. Besides how are you supposed to wake up to that picture next to your bed if you are at your brothers?" I blurted out before I realised what I was saying. I covered my mouth with my hands as if to push the words back in but, of course, it didn't help. His eyebrows furrowed.

"How do you know about the picture by my bed?" He looked at me with confusion. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"When I finished getting ready and noticed that you weren't in the sitting room, I went to look for you and I found the guest room. When you didn't answer when I knocked, I thought you might have fallen asleep so I went in to wake you up. I saw you weren't there and I turned to leave but the picture caught my eye. It's a nice picture but could you not have picked one where I had at least a little bit of make-up on?" I joked trying to lighten the mood. I didn't know how he would react to me going through his things. I held my breath praying that he would laugh. Hell at this point I would take him yelling at me but he just stood there. Then his expression changed and for a second I thought I saw sorrow in his eyes but I can't be sure.

"I chose that picture because it is the picture that completely describes us. It's not 'Damon Valenti and his journalist wife' it is just 'Damon and Elena'. There are plenty of pictures of us at award shows and premieres but all you have to do is go to any search engine to find them. That picture is one that you took on your phone and you didn't even put it on instagram so the only places you can find it is on your phone or in that frame. Oh and by the way you look beautiful in it." He said gently taking my face in his hands.

"You're not mad?"

"Of course I'm not mad. It's only natural for you to be curious about everything."

"So you're not staying at Stefan's tonight?"

"Ok fine!" He groaned "If it will make you happy."

I just looked into his eyes for a moment. They were ridiculously blue and they were defined by the darkness of his hair. My gaze drifted lower and I found myself staring at his lips. Before I knew it I was leaning forward and capturing them with my own.

The kiss was slow and soft and our lips moved perfectly with each other, almost like it had been choreographed. I felt butterflies in my stomach and I slid my tongue along his bottom lip. He pulled me closer to him with his hands sliding down to my waist and he granted me entry and our tongues danced mercilessly together. All my insides felt as though they were on fire, I tried to deepen the kiss but he pulled away and a little groan escaped my lips.

"What are you doing?" I asked breathlessly.

"As much as it _physically_ pains me to say this, we can't go any further Elena, it's not right."

"No I think we can." I said looking up at him through my eyelashes, smirking slightly.

"No Elena" He laughed "We have had an amazing evening but you have had quite a bit of wine and with the current situation as it is... I would feel like I was taking advantage." He said with his eyes closed, pressing our foreheads together.

"Ok you're right" I sighed "I understand. I'm going to go to bed. I'll see you in the morning." I said giving one more quick kiss, pulling away before I got compelled by his lips again.

"Goodnight Elena."

I walked to my bed room and shut the door behind me once I was there. I couldn't get this Cheshire cat smile off of my face as I reached for my phone.

_We kissed! E x_

I texted knowing that there was no way my darling best friend would have gone to sleep before she got details of the date. Literally one minute later my phone buzzed.

_OMG I knew it! How was it?! C x_

I smiled at my phone trying to think of the right word to describe it.

_Perfect!_


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I am SOOO sorry for taking so long for this I suffered from writers block a lot during this chapter. I knew where it had to start and I knew where I wanted it to end but I couldn't figure out how to get there. It is much longer then my chapters are usually but I hope that it is ok. Thank you so much for all of your support. If you want you can follow me on Twitter Julie_walton011 and I will keep you up to date if anything happens to delay my updates.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any TVD characters.**

I slowly opened my eyes and for a few seconds I didn't recognize my surroundings. It didn't take long for the memories of the longest 24 hours of my life to come rushing back to me. Even though I feel like a 21 year old single mother of a 2 year old little girl, in reality I am 25, been happily married for 3 years and my daughter is 6, I just don't remember any of it. God my life is a mess!

Last night was perfect and really got my mind off of every thing, but I still can't fully open up to Damon, I only met him yesterday. I promised myself a long time ago that I wouldn't let a guy completely take over my life again but part of me wants to let Damon, and that scares me, last time I did it look what happened. While I was pregnant Nik didn't want me socializing, he let me see Caroline and Bonnie, partly because he was scared of Caroline but that was it other then that I only got to see my family.

"_Nik we need the money!" I screamed at him as he blocked the door._

"_I don't care you're not going anywhere. You need to rest I don't want you stressing yourself out with those kids." he told me. He was being completely ridiculous, I was only going to baby-sit for and old friend from high school. _

"_I'm not going to stress myself out. I've known those kids since they were born, they know me and they know that I am not going to let them get away with anything. Vicki has a new job she has finally kicked Tyler out, she needs someone to look after the kids while she is at work and I need the practice and she is paying for me to do it." I explained but he didn't seem to want to know._

"_Every time you come back from babysitting those kids you are always exhausted." _

"_Of course I am they are 3 and 2 years old the have a shit load of energy and I make sure that they have a good time." I told him. Vicki was 2 years ahead of me at school and my parents babysat her when we were younger and we have been good friends ever since. "So I am going to look after them and I am going to have a fun day with them because their dad has just left and they don't know when he is coming back. Ok?" _

I was in the kitchen with a bowl of cereal thinking about everything. Of course Nik eventually let me go to baby sit but when I got back he put on the guilt trip and I gave in. I didn't see Vicki again till Rosalie was a year old. I know that Damon isn't Nik and I trust that he loves me, you can see it in his eyes and it is obvious that he loves Rosalie but I just can't get over the fact that we have only just met. It's all very overwhelming.

I also came the decision that I don't want anyone else to know what has happened to me unless I know them. No friends, no press, no one, if I don't remember them, they can't know what has happened unless they need to know. Like I know that Damon called my work and school yesterday because I would need the time to get my head sorted and Caroline told her boss so that she would understand why I was around so much more then usual. But that is the only reasons I can see for anyone else to know. I don't want people looking at me thinking _aw poor Elena she has amnesia, she doesn't remember her husband. _I don't need to be pitied. So it would just be us, Caroline & Stefan, Bonnie, my parents, Aunt Jenna and my brother Jeremy. It might be difficult going to Damon's celebrity events but I handled the paparazzi alright last night so maybe I'll be ok.

"Morning" Damon said as he came into the kitchen and gave me a quick kiss before rummaging through the cupboards to find something to eat. It wasn't until he reached up for something that I came out of my train of thought to realise that he didn't have a shirt on, damn that man is an Adonis. I had seen him shitless on his show but the cameras obviously didn't do him justice, and that was saying something. He had the perfect body, he had a beautiful body shape, hardly any body hair just a little suggestive snail trail beneath his belly button, and just the right amount of muscles, not too shape. much to make him look like a bodybuilder but he didn't look weedy either. He was obviously in shape.

"ELENA!".

Shit! Had he been talking to me this entire time? And I didn't hear him because I was staring at him like a horny teenager.

"I'm sorry I was lost in my thoughts. What were you saying?" I asked and hoped to whoever was out there that my face wasn't as red as it felt.

"I was saying that you are going to work with Caroline today and she will be over as soon as she drops Rosalie off at school. Are you ok? You look a little flushed." He asked with concern.

"Yeah I'm fine I was just thinking about, stuff. Speaking of work." I quickly changed the subject. "Aren't you supposed to be in Seattle?" I asked and he chuckled.

"No we film here in New York. Ironic really all the TV shows set in New York and are filmed in LA or Toronto. But you get a show set in Seattle, they want to film in New York. We are between seasons at the moment anyway, I don't have to be back at work for another month."

"Oh right. Sounds confusing." I laughed, desperately _not_ looking at his body. Seriously though how does he do that? Most people you see with bodies like that are annoyingly health conscious but last night we were eating pasta and pizza _and_ we had a deliciously decadent tiramisu between us. "So am I signed up to a gym or something? Because I should probably work off some of that meal last night."

"Um no you're not. Between working, school and looking after Rosalie, you are usually too tired to work out during the week. But you go to a yoga class on Saturday and Monday mornings."

"I thought you said we have a nanny? Yesterday when I broke down you said that the nanny was taking Rosalie to school!" I was almost in a full blown panic. Who was with my child yesterday?

"Calm down baby. Yes we do have a nanny and yes that was who took Rosalie to school yesterday. However she is more of an on call babysitter. It took me a while to convince you that you couldn't take on all you wanted on your own. You needed help but you were convinced that you didn't want to be one of those people who has someone else raise their child and no matter how many times I told you that, that's not what most nannies do you held your guns. I think it was just because you had got 3 years without hiring anyone but you had Bonnie and Caroline. So when I finally convinced you to hire someone it came with conditions, it would only be if you have a big assignment on or if your running late from a class or work. But you warmed to Rose rather quickly so if you get a bit exhausted you call her. You have to realise Lena with you working with Caroline all the time it's like you basically have 2 full time jobs." He explained. It all sounded reasonable, but I could understand why it might have taken a while to convince me to hire help. The thought of someone I don't know looking after my child makes me uncomfortable.

"Wait! So I have 4 lives? The mother, the student, the journalist and the wedding planner." I asked and he nodded at me "All of which are full time jobs. When do I have time to be a wife?" I felt a pang of guilt, if I'm running all of these lives, where does Damon come into it? He is being pushed into the background and that's not fair.

"Are you serious? What is this the fifties? Baby being a wife doesn't have to be a job all on it's own." He laughed "If I get in from work before you I cook dinner and if you get in before me, well you order take out."

"What does that mean? I can cook!" I exclaimed

"Yes baby you can cook. When you have the time to cook properly. You can't just lump things on a plate, it has to look right as well as taste right and a lot of the time you like to do things from scratch. However everyday cooking for example fries and nuggets or a pre-packaged meat pie, you get impatient with it or what happens more often then not, you forget about it, then it burns. I don't complain, most of the time I am in before you anyway because it's very rare that my scenes are shot at night. I think it's cute." He told me

"Ok but there are other things apart from cooking. What about just hanging out, being with each other?" I asked

"You mean like we did last night?" he asked but before I could answer he carried on "Don't worry we manage. It's harder when I am working but not by a lot. I guess that is the silver lining for not being he lead." He joked.

"And not actually filming in Seattle." I laughed. We sat and ate our breakfast and just chatted about random stuff when we heard the front door open.

"Who is that?" I asked wondering who would have a key to our house.

"Hey guys where are you?" I heard the person shout. Of course Caroline had a key. I suddenly felt really stupid for even wondering.

"In the kitchen!" Damon shouted and it didn't take long before she walked in.

"You are not wearing that to work!" she said looking at the clothes that I put on to come down stairs, which in my defence wasn't meant for work.

"You're right Care. It's not but I only found out that I was going to work with you today 15 minuets ago So I think I can be forgiven. Also considering I don't know what day it is." I joked

"Well It is Friday and you have had 15 minuets so why…"

"CARE! I have been eating my breakfast and having a nice conversation with Damon. I was going to go get ready in a minuet ok?" Caroline had always been a bit of a control freak ever since we were kids so I guess I wasn't surprised by her chosen profession.

"Fine but if you don't get ready now we are going to be late so chop chop."

"Alright I'm going!" I told her as I made my way upstairs to get ready. I had a shower and got dressed into a Karen Millen outfit of a canary yellow peplum shift dress with a belted waist and a black unstructured suit jacket partnered with a pair of nude and black Jimmy Choos and a matching nude handbag. I was down stairs within 20 minuets but you would think I had been an hour.

"Finally! I thought I was going to have to come up and pick something for you." Caroline said as I walked into the room.

"Caroline I took 20 minuets I could have been quicker but that would have meant skipping the shower." I said sarcastically smiling at my best friend.

"Ok fine whatever can we just get going?" she whined. Caroline stood up from the breakfast bar and walked towards the door. I went to follow her but Damon walked in my way and gave me a kiss is wasn't passionate like it was last night it was just soft and sweet.

"I see she hasn't got any better with mornings in the last 4 years." I laughed

"Not really, I think she might have gotten worse." He laughed back "You look beautiful. Don't worry you can do this." He reassured me.

"Thanks. How does Madame moo get home from school? Should I go and pick her up?"

"Don't worry. She has a half day today so I promised her to take her to the central park zoo today." He said smiling and I got the impression that he might be just as excited as Rosalie.

"So last night?"" Pressed Caroline as soon as we got in the car .

"Yeah thanks for babysitting Care, especially with such short notice. Was she alright?"

"Really? You go on a date for as far as you know 2 years and your mind is on how well behaved your daughter has been? She was fine just like she always is"

"I'm a mom Caroline. I might not remember a lot of her because I have missed the most important years of her life, but I still know what it is to be a mother! There is not a moment when she is not the first thing on my mind." I snapped

"Ok I'm sorry. I know this is hard for you Elena, and I can't imagine what it is like to miss 4 years of your child's life. But don't think for one second that I don't know that she is the first thing on your mind. You know that I love that girl as if she were my own." She told me and she was right, When I first broke up with, She and Bonnie moved in with me to make sure I wasn't doing it on my own and Caroline was only just moving out when we went to LA.

"ok you're right I'm sorry I shouldn't have snapped."

"Right so last night?" She pressed on

"you already know what happened Care. I text you how it ended and I'm guessing you know what we did on the date considering you are the one who told him what to do." I said

"What? I didn't tell him what to do for the date. I just told him to press restart." She said with a distinct confused look on her face.

"Yes that is what you told him this time, And that is what he did."

"I am so confused right now. How is telling him to press restart tell me what you did for your da… Oh My God he didn't?" She squealed. "He went back to the beginning and done what I told him the first time. Aw How sweet."

When we arrived at Caroline's office in Tribeca and it was the perfect mix of luxury and corporate. In the hallways it was deep red plush carpet, striped cream walls and a mahogany dado rail throughout with a matching mahogany desk at the end of the hall. I and always enjoyed the art of interior design as a hobby and I liked to look at how people decorate their communal areas because it has a lot to do with how you want to be perceived. The only difference in an office to a house is that, how you want to be perceived can be used as a part of subliminal messaging. For example the room next to us decorated the same as in the hall and it has in one corner a dark brown velvet corner sofa with red striped cushions and a very expensive looking coffee table next to it, on the opposite wall there is a mahogany bookshelf filled with cream coloured binders. My guess is that this is where the wedding planner meets with the clients. The couch and coffee table make it all seem a bit informal and makes the client feel relaxed while the luxury décor makes them sway towards the more expensive choices and the bookcase filled with binders helps the client trust the skills of the planner because if they have so many clients, they must be talented.

"Elena!" I turned around to see a blonde woman coming to hug me. Who is she? "It's so good to see you. I'm so sorry to hear about what happened but rest assured I won't say anything" The British woman said "I can't imagine what you must be going through, not really knowing who anyone… Oh my god! I am such an idiot. I'm Rebekah, this is my company. I probably should have started with that." She profusely apologized. Well that cleared everything up.

"No it's fine. It's nice to meet you … Again" I lightly laughed. Rebekah went on to tell me what we would be doing here and that she would train me as if I were a new employee to help me get enough information about the business to write about it. That way if my memories don't come back I will still have expert knowledge of the industry for when I go back to work.

"Thank you Rebekah. I can't tell you how grateful I am for you helping me"

"Don't mention it hun. What are friends for?" She winked at me and went of to her office.

3 hours, 2 unhappy brides and 4 first meetings later we sat down to lunch.

"Oh my god Care I thought that last woman was going to have a fit when you said you couldn't get the flowers she wanted. Did you see her face I don't think I have ever seen anyone's face that red." I said slumping my seat at the table we had been shown to.

"Ha! You think that's bad? We once had someone who I honestly thought was going to lynch me because the napkins we had ordered were a fraction of a shade lighter then what she wanted." She told me and we laughed about that until I saw someone walk into the restaurant.

"Bonnie?" I shouted as I jumped up to hug her.

"Hey sweetie. I am so sorry I couldn't be there for you yesterday there was an exam and…"

"No don't be silly it's fine I understand you're going to be a big shot doctor you can't do that if you go skipping on exams to see your friend." I told her jokingly.

"I was going to. I started packing up my stuff as soon as Damon told me what happened. I was ready to come straight to the house but he told me that you would kill me for not doing my exam and him for allowing me to." She explained.

"He's right I would have." I laughed "But anyway you know what's going on with me. What's new with you?"

"Well actually I've been seeing someone and…"

"Wait what?" Caroline burst out "What do you mean you have been seeing someone? For how long?"

"Wait so this is like completely new information?" I asked. It felt nice, it had only been 36 hours but I had almost forgotten what it felt like to not be the only one who doesn't know what was happening.

"Well I've known him for a long time but we have been texting a lot lately and about a month ago… I don't know it was just completely unexpected but I really like him." she said. She was smiling like a school girl and I knew she was happy and that is all that mattered.

"So where did you meet this mystery guy?" Caroline asked.

"Oh you know just around." she said looking down into her coffee. This was odd because we had never been vague with each other we had all always been painfully honest.

"Ok then what's his name?" I asked.

"Nah I don't want to jinx it by telling you too much." She said. Caroline and I looked at each other worryingly. We always tell each other everything so why was there all the secrecy with this guy?

We spent the next half hour catching up before Caroline and I had to get back to work. We tried to get her to trip up and tell us more about the mystery guy but she wasn't falling for it.

"You know what?" Caroline said as we got back to the office. "That was nice. It has been too long since we had a girly night so how about after work we go to the video store pick up a movie go over and surprise Bonnie?"

""Sounds good but I think Damon is cooking dinner tonight so…"

"That's perfect! Go home have your family dinner then I'll pick you and sprog up and we will all head off to Bonnie's." she said with a huge smile on her face and I cold tell that there was no way out of this. Caroline's mind was made up.

"Ok fine but lets get on with this first? You are supposed to be teaching me how to negotiate prices with suppliers."

The rest of the day was spent learning about the filling system and how to work the database, which was very intricate. By the time 4 o'clock came around I felt like I could do with a girly night. So we went to the video store and got the biggest rom-com chick flick we could find and headed home.

When I got home the smell that hit me instantly made my mouth water. I didn't even realise that I was hungry till just now, we got so distracted by Bonnie's news I didn't eat much at lunch.

"I'm home" I called into the house and I saw Rosalie sitting at the coffee table in the living room still in her school uniform, doing her homework. Her hair was put into braids and she really was the little girl I knew she would turn out to be. "Hey baby I thought you were going to the zoo today?"

"We did it was amazing. We watched the polar bears playing." she said still engrossed in her homework.

"Oh right sounds cool." I said sitting down next to her and giving her a quick kiss. "What homework are you doing?"

"Multiplication. It's pretty easy." she said.

"Oh really? What times tables do you know?" I asked, this was pretty perfect actually because I had always wanted to know if she would have my brains or Niks. Now where as I am far from brainy I would rather her have mine then Niks because he was not smart at all.

"2 and 5. But they have only taught us 2 at school. I learnt 5 all by myself!"

"You are 6 years old and you already know two separate times tables? I think I barely knew one at your age." Well that answers my question. She didn't get mine or Niks brains, She got my brothers, damn it!

"It's the wonder of the technological age." Damon said coming into the room wiping his hands on a tea towel. "All they have to do is look on the internet and they can find out anything they want to know. As long as it is age appropriate of course."

"Daddy I didn't learn this on the internet. I learnt it on the app _you_ got me on the Ipad." she said to him. What in gods name is an Ipad?

"Yeah well I didn't think you would use it to take over the world did I?" He said with a wink "Anyway dinner is nearly ready so go upstairs and get changed out of your school uniform."

Rosalie got up and went to her room to get changed and Damon sat in her place and turned on the TV.

"How was work?" he asked.

"It was… exhausting. Like seriously we had one girl literally screaming in Caroline's face because she told her that her chair sashes would be medium light pink instead of light pink. I mean really?" As I was ranting I noticed Damon chuckling next to me. "Hey what's so funny?"

"It's just that you said exactly the same thing when Caroline was shouting down the phone at someone for getting our colours slightly wrong."

"We had pink?" I grimaced.

"No we had teal and aqua."

"Aw that's my favourite colour combination."

"I know." he smiled at me and for a moment it felt really nice just talking to him like this.

"Anyway my rant is over how was your day? I heard you watched the polar bears playing." I asked.

"Yeah that is always fun to watch. But apart from that I just caught up on some television, you know stuff like that." he said

"Why do I get the feeling you are hiding something?"

"Well I might have done some research about amnesia online." He said sheepishly

"Oh right. Well what did you find out?"

"Not a lot. Anything useful only really covered the types of amnesia. There are a lot of forum posts with people asking if amnesia is real or if it is just something made up by Hollywood, but overall not very helpful. Just that what you have is retrograde amnesia." He explained.

"Yeah I know. The doctor told me that much." I chuckled "Anyway I'm going to take Rosalie to Bonnie's later for a girly night and try to dig up the dirt on her new boyfriend." I said. Damon's face dropped slightly and I started to feel bad that maybe he wanted to spend some family time together. "But I was thinking of doing something tomorrow if you want? Just the three of us?"

"Um yeah sounds good. Tell you what after dinner I'll drive you to Bonnie's."

"Well Caroline is coming to pick us up so it's…"

"Ok then when she gets here she can leave her car here and I'll take al three of you, believe me Caroline isn't going to give up a chance of being able to have a glass of wine." he laughed.

"Ok yeah. Thanks that's really nice." I said and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah well that's me Mr. Nice guy. But come on diner is ready."

We got up and went to have the dinner that Damon made, chicken risotto and Damn it was good. About a half hour later the door opened and Caroline walked in.

"You guys aren't ready yet?" She asked.

"Change of plan Care. I'm going to I'm going to drive you that way you girls can have a glass of wine. Just give me a call when you are done and I will come and get you." Damon told her.

"What's with the nice guy act? I don't like it, it's creepy. You are up to something aren't you." She said.

"What is with all of the suspicion? I'm just offering!"

"Yeah whatever I'm not buying it. But ok you can drive." She rolled her eyes and we all got our stuff and headed out the door. It only took us 15 minuets to get to Bonnie's apartment, she lived in a beautiful building and again I felt a sense of pride that my friends were doing so well for themselves.

"This is so exciting, I can't wait to see her face. It has been so long since we have done this." Caroline said as we parked in the buildings adjacent parking lot. As we approached the building I noticed Damon looking around the parking lot.

"What are you doing? You look like a meerkat." I asked him.

""What? Oh nothing just checking out the cars. Seeing if there are any new models." he said.

"Oh god! I married one of _those_ guys? Caroline how did you let this happen?" I joked.

"I did warn you" She sang as we made our way up to Bonnie's apartment.

"Daddy what are you talking about? You don't like cars." Rosalie said confused. Just as I knocked on the front door.

"What are you talking about kitten of course I like cars." he told her.

"Hmm I don't believe you." she said as the door opened. Bonnie had a look of complete surprise but it didn't seem to be the type of surprise we were going for, and I'm sure our faces mirrored hers as she was wearing a men's shirt.

"Guys what are you doing here?" She asked.

"Well we came to surprise you with a girly night in and Damon drove. But oh my god he's here isn't he?" Caroline said with almost jumping with joy as we pushed ourselves into her apartment.

"No guys wait!" Bonnie said but we didn't listen. Damon stayed by the front door holding Rosalie and just then the bedroom door opened and a half naked man came out of the room.

"Babe what's taking so long with the pizza?" He said.

"JEREMY?!"


End file.
